More Than Friday Nights and Bright Lights
by ZiggyKathrin
Summary: You must watch the movie while reading the story for it to make sense. This story spoils the film! Rated MA for language, drug use, gang affiliation, sexuality. These events happen at the same time of the movie Friday Night Lights. A big city girl meets a small town hero and thinks everything is a big joke, but not for long. Don Billingsley/OFC
1. Chapter 1

Duration time of Movie: 0:00 min to 11:30 min (approx).

A red, rusted pick up truck drives down a dusty road somewhere in Texas. It's sunny, too sunny and it irritates her, this road is taking her to the lowest point in her life. Her mother has just passed her off to her dad because she couldn't handle her own daughter. She is meek as fuck. So now she's going from the cold ass nights of Detroit rock city, to bullshit nothing Odessa Texas. Her brothers back home were not impressed. Unfortunately seeing her mother cry always twisted her stomach so she agreed to try this out with her father and if this fails, like she thinks it will, going back to Detroit to live with her friends is her plan B. She takes a drag of a crumpled joint she lazily rolled while she was waiting for a train to cross the tracks. She rested her head back in her seat and continued down the long, straight road. It's too goddamn hot. She exhales a cloud of smoke and smiles, her passenger whines and grumbles. She pats his soft fur.

"Almost there Howard, at least you'll never be cold here in Hell." She says sarcastically to her furry companion, rubbing the top of his head, he sighs. Howard was the only stable man in her life. She found him as a puppy behind a dumpster when she was ten and seven years later, her prize worthy Doberman has been by her side ever since.

She sees signs for Odessa and she groans. She takes another drag, realizing she only has a couple more puffs before it's pooched. She looks around the barren town, super8 memory images of her growing up here pass through her head, bringing up emotions she quickly squashes as she aggressively tosses her finished reefer out of the window. She drives down the main strip of town slowly, one hand on the wheel the other hanging out the window, music blaring. There are people all over the street, probably something to do with football. People eye her, and she glares back, Howard sits up in the passenger seat and glares with her. She has changed a lot since she was eight, and 90 percent of the people here won't recognize her, or want to.

The life she lived on the west side of Detroit was a lot different than any neighborhood in this area code. She was a delinquent with an absent mother and father, so she fell on the shoulders of her friends who weren't always the best people to be around and got herself into some trouble. Even though she had a lame family upbringing, she's not mopey about it, "move on and forget" is more her style, Detroit made sure of that.

She stops at a red light and sees the giant stadium down the road three miles out. It looks so ridiculous next to this shitty ass town, nothing around but a million dollar stadium, wow priorities. A car pulls up beside her, and Howard growls. She looks down through her shades, two dudes stare up at her, clearly going to football tryouts decked in black and white attire. They rev their engine and she just stares, flips them off and turns left.

With the detour to get away from the two leather-heads, she realized she's closer to her dad's house then she wanted to be. Wishing she could just drive forever, but with her dad being on the police force, he would've found her eventually. She pulls up to a small, wooden home that is clearly meant for a single man. The house and the garden pale in comparison to the perfectly groomed front lawn, being the only upkeep he probably does. She puts her car in park, she turns the key and the music dies along with the engine. She leans back in her seat. Howard quietly barks at her, as if to signal it's time to face the music, grow a pair and get inside, plus he probably had to shit. Being in the car for two days and staying in a rundown motel has had a toll on her best friend. Although finally off the road the last thing she wanted to do was unpack and talk with her dad about her trip down, or anything else for that matter. She just wanted her senior year of high school to be over so she could just go back home.

She opened the door to her car and it creaked, she jumped out and slammed it shut, Howard grew restless wanting out as well. She threw back the tarp covering her small amount of belongings and threw them on her back. She walked over to the passenger side door and opened it, Howard jumped out, stretched and searched the area for a place to pee. He walked away from her and she looked up the street, surveying the houses lined on either side of the road. She noticed some of them had signs out front, reminding her of the one she found in her father's shed years ago. Representing a time in his life that she is sure he wanted to go back to, the year he won the championship with the Permian Panthers. Howard barked loudly and she snapped out of her daze and looked to where the sound came from. He was at the end of the driveway, staring down a guy running, he looked at the dog and up at her. He turned around and began to run backwards, clearly on the defensive from the menacing stance the Doberman took. She scoffed and whistled for Howard to come to her. Howard lost all interest in the boy and trotted over to her.

"Come on Howard, it's time to go inside." She stated as if she was talking to another human and not a dog. She heard the jogger yell something but she wasn't interested in what he had to say, she walked up the steps to her father's house. She knocked, and felt uncomfortable all of a sudden. Knocking on her own father's door made her feel like a stranger staying at a distant relative's house she had never met. She heard rustling and foot steps, her stomach began to flip and she cursed herself for the feeling. The door swung open and staring straight at her was the shell of a man she once knew. His eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and he didn't seem as tall as he used to be. His eyes met hers and they sparkled for a second but soon glazed over as he backed up and looked at what his daughter had become. Everything he wished she wasn't.

"What happened to you Tylor," he more stated than asked.

"Oh save it pops," she returned with attitude. Her father sighed and signaled for her to come inside. Tylor stepped in and stood in the middle of the entryway, not sure what to do with herself. Her father just stared at her in disbelief. His little girl had grown up, she had grown up too fast. Her hard exterior was impossible to see through, it was like trying to look through a cement wall. He eyed her image, tattoos ran down her left arm and thigh, her once blonde, short and pigtailed hair was long but died a silver white.

"Where's my room," Tylor stated, clearly annoyed by her father's judging stare. Her voice snapped him back to the moment and he just pointed up the stairs. She mumbled thanks and walked up the steps and Howard followed. She saw a door with a whiteboard sign on it. It read her name in black sharpie, she twisted the door nob and slowly stepped inside. The room hadn't changed much, it smelled musty and unlived in. She walked over to the window and opened it. Her double bed lay underneath the windowsill she remembered sitting at for many summers as a child. She fell backwards on the mattress and patted for Howard to jump up. He curled up next to her and it made her feel a bit better about being here.

"I guess that wasn't so bad eh Howie?" she said half smiling and he grumbled in response.

….

Duration time of Movie: 11:40 min to 19:52 min (approx).

Tylor awoke to Howard nudging her arm, she hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep. She leaned forward and stretched, forcing herself out of bed.

"What do you want?" she looked at Howard. He began to rummage through her bags. She chuckled to herself and looked out the window, it was nighttime and she had slept all day. She felt restless and needed to let off some steam, plus she hadn't been on a run at night in a long time. Detroit isn't the safest place to jog at night, even with a dog like Howard. She then grabbed the leash that was hanging out of one of her bags' many pockets.

"Looking for this?" She said while waving the leash around. Howard barked happily and she smiled. "Okay bud, let me get my gear on and we can run around this dump." She changed into Nike running shorts and a white t-shirt. "It's weird running without layers," She stretched with newfound freedom from many days of running in tight sheets of sweaters. She looked in the tall mirror at her reflection. She was clearly showing off her runner's form, her shapely legs were tanned from running in the sun, her left thigh had a colorful Japanese style tiger covering the outside. It went well with her black and white floral sleeve she showed off proudly on her left arm. She loved the way she looked sometimes. She attached Howard's leash to his spiked collar and began to walk down the stairs. As she reached for the door handle, her father's voice rang in her ears.

"I didn't want to wake you, I know that drive must have been long I-" he cut himself off as he saw what his daughter was wearing and smiled to himself. "Still running I see?"

"Yeah, still running," She said back with an awkward smile.

"Alright, be careful."

Tylor nodded and left the house, she breathed a sigh of relief. Any time she can get out of talking with her dad is a win. Howard began pulling on the leash she had tied around her waist and she pulled back.

"Settle down man," Tylor twisted from side to side, tying her hair up into a long ponytail. She began a brisk jog up the street. The night air was just as hot, moistening her lungs with the humidity. She took in a deep breath, for once not hating this dead city. She and Howard jogged around for a while, getting lost and finding their way again, happy to be out of the house. She turned down a street and began to see those football signs again and she rolled her eyes. Howard tugged for a faster pace but Tylor was getting tired. Sweat was making her shirt stick tighter to her body and her hair beginning to turn into a white frizzy mess. Howard kept pulling and she stopped moving, arms crossed.

"We can turn around you know" she stated frustrated, breathing heavily and licked her lips, she wanted water. Howard pulled and started to bark. "Hey!" She said aggressively and pulling on the leash. "Nighttime dumby, no loud noises or you'll wake the majestic football players. Big babies need a good night's sleep." She said in a baby voice. Howard turned around and huffed at her and quietly snorted. Right before she was about to curse at Howard she noticed a girl walking quickly towards her, arms crossed and staggering. She was clearly blonde, disheveled and possibly drunk. Howard went to sniff her as she walked by and the girl squeaked and tripped. Tylor grabbed her arm and stopped her from falling.

"Sorry 'bout him," she said not really sorry. The girl looked her up and down and ripped her arm from Tylor's hold. She continued walking down the street. "Whatever," Tylor grumbled, not really giving a fuck and wishing she had let her fall on her ass. "We'll go up the street Howie then back to dad's," She began to run again, a tad faster to try to wear Howard out. As she continued up the street she could hear a commotion coming from one of the houses. As she got closer it was one of those homes with the stupid MOJO signs on the lawn, clearly bragging that the son of the house was on the team. So fucking stupid. She was about to continue by when a guy fell out the front door and landed painfully on his side. Howard jerked around in a protective stance blocking anything from getting to Tylor.

"Hey kid you okay?" She called out. He looked up at her about to say something when an older guy ran out the door screaming and yelling.

"I'll teach you to hold onto a fucking football!" The man screamed. A woman followed behind him yelling for him to stop. 'This fucking town man…' She thought to herself. She turned around to run back to her dad's when it felt like she ran into a brick wall. Howard wasn't moving and was barking loudly at the scene in front of him. Tylor tried to pull on the leash.

"It's..Not our …problem..Howard!" She said angrily between tugs.

"Shut your fucking dog up!" The man yelled at Tylor as she tried to get away from the idiocy unfolding in front of her.

Okay, now it is her problem.

"You shut him up then," She said angrily back at him and released Howard's leash around her waist. He charged at the man and started barking at him, not biting but just showing off. Howard placed himself in between the son, and the drunk angry man who was the father. He fell back yelling out. The woman grabbed onto him and tried to pull him inside.

"I'll kill your fucking dog!" The man slurred. Tylor ran up the driveway and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Get the fuck inside dad!" The guy who was trying to stand yelled out. The man kicked his leg out to try and hit Howard, but the dog was too quick and growled back at his attacker. The man struggled to get up the steps to his front door.

"We're going to talk about this in the morning!" he yelled back with a finger pointing at his son and slammed the door.

Tylor stuck out her middle finger at the closed door. She heard a grunt and turned around to see Howard on top of the poor kid still on the ground. He was proud of himself and wanted appreciation from the guy he just saved. Tylor whistled sharply, Howard stopped messing with the kid and walked over to her, sitting alert at her feet. She stepped forward and grabbed him by his arm to help him up, he staggered around and she steadied him. She realized his hands were roughly duck-taped to a football, and he had bruises forming on his bare chest and stomach. Smart dad, don't hit the face or people will start asking questions.

It became awkward, two strangers have just shared a hectic experience but now it's over. The guy was about to say something when Tylor bent down to her running shoe and pulled out a jack knife. She grabbed his hand trying to make some space between it and the football. She began cutting at the duck-tape, feeling his eyes on her, God it made her mad when these people stared at her.

"I'm from Detroit," she stated, her eyes fixed on the taped up mess, hoping that would clear up any questions about the knife. He stayed silent. Tylor broke through the duck-tape and untangled her hand from his. "There you go-" she said stopping short, trying to look past him. "Don," she finished. He gave her a questioning look and she nudged her head to the MOJO sign erect on his front lawn. He turned and stared, for once actually seeing his name written in black letters. Tylor took this as her cue to leave, finally. "Have a nice night," She said turning around. She took a step to begin her final run home when she felt a hand grab her elbow, it was warm and she didn't like the feeling it gave her. Howard began to growl, when Don heard the dog he let go quickly and raised his hands up to signal peace.

"Jus' want to know her name bud," he said rather hurriedly. Howard stopped immediately and sat with his tongue out, he was betraying her for this stupid kid. Tylor put the knife back in her shoe and picked up Howard's leash.

"Tylor…King," she stated, smiled and turned around to run back to her dad's place, practically dragging Howard with her. Don went to reach out to stop her again but she was too fast and already jogged away. He threw his hands up to rest them on his head.

"Thanks!" he shouted after her, she answered with a hand wave. Don let his hands drop to his side in defeat and slumped onto the front steps. Tylor King, Tylor King, he said over and over in his head. He knew that name from somewhere.

…

"Don Billingsly… why does that sound familiar," Tylor said under her breath to no one in particular. She hadn't seen that guy before but he seems so recognizable. She had reached her father's driveway, and in a weird way felt relief, she could now go to bed without being a vigilante fighting against family feuds for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey All! Please rate or review! I would love to hear your opinions! Please please please!?_

 _Movie time: 19:55 to 23:45_

Tylor awoke to a soft knock on her bedroom door. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and rolled over to her side, she mumbled the okay to enter the room. The door slowly creaked open revealing her dad on the other side. She lazily blinked her blue eyes at him. He cleared his throat.

"Hey, so I'm off to work. There's uhm, food in the fridge if you're hungry," he scratched the back of his head visibly awkward.

"Thanks," Tylor tried to smile. Her father turned to leave but then stopped.

"If you need anything, there's a 7Eleven down the road from here," then he left. Tylor slumped back exhausted, the run last night tired her out a lot and she was feeling the effects of it on her muscles. She stretched out her legs and dragged herself out of bed alerting Howard she was awake.

"Wanna take a drive to the store bud?" she yawned. He got up and copied her, dragging his paws across the hardwood floor to the stairs, looking back at her as if to tell her to hurry up. She laughed and turned to look at herself in the mirror, running her fingers through her frizzy hair trying to tame it to look presentable. When she was happy with her appearance she grabbed some shorts, an old black flag shirt and headed towards the front door. She walked out into the sunlight and the heat hit her like a freight train, she swore to herself looking down at Howard for reassurance. He just trotted past her and climbed into the bed of the truck. She sighed and stepped into her front seat. She reached for the glove compartment, searching for an altoids tin, which she carried her weed in. Finally grasping it she set it on her lap, when she opened it she cursed loudly. "Fuck." Her supply was dwindling, where the hell was she going to find good weed in this town.

She hit the steering wheel angrily and was becoming anxious. How was she going to survive this place without her one vice, and how the hell did she forget to bring more from home. She tossed the almost empty tin in the passenger seat and lit a joint she had from before the drive to Odessa. She took two long drags and felt herself relax a little. She licked her fingers and put the sad excuse for a reefer out, saving it for later, God knows she'll need it. She turned the key in the ignition and her car roared to life along with her music. She backed out of the driveway and sped down towards the 7Eleven, one of the only stores not closed down on the main strip. The warm air blew through the open window and she hated to admit that it felt kind of nice. She looked in her rearview mirror, smiling at Howard who was having the time of his life. She pulled into the lot, parking beside a cream white (muscle car). She jumped out of her truck and slammed her door, looked towards Howard to tell him to stay. She reached into her opened window for some loose bills she had in her cup holder.

"Hey," a low voice came from behind her, she turned around to face the source of the sound. It was Don. He was chewing obnoxiously and chocolate milk with burrito crumbs layered his mouth. She gave him a small smile and signaled for him to wipe his face. He looked down and with one hand cleaned off the mess and smeared it on his jeans. She went into the store and as the door closed behind her, she heard the driver of the car ask who she was.

The store was small, your classic brand name junk food place. She suddenly had a craving for chocolate milk and went to the back of the store to grab some. Her ears rang as she heard a high pitch laughter coming from the blonde clerk behind the cash register. Is everyone in this town blonde?, she thought to herself. Grabbing an assortment of food she made her way to the blonde clerk, talking loudly on the phone. Tylor placed her things on the counter rather roughly to announce that she was ready to go, and the girl kept talking. She waited a few moments patiently, but that was about as long as her fuse would go unlit.

"I'd like to go," she stated frustrated. The clerk glared at her and stuck her finger out, making Tylor's anger show a little more than she wanted to. "Come on," she said louder just wanting to be out of the damn store.

"I'm talking with a customer," The clerk said with a snap of her gum.

"Yep, telling a customer whose dick you sucked last night is real important," she said through gritted teeth.

"Excuse me?" The clerk pulled the phone away from her ear and glared at Tylor.

"You heard me," Tylor stated.

"Sorry Maria, some bitch is being extremely rude- What really? Oh my God since when-" The clerk was trying to continue her conversation but Tylor was over it.

"You don't want to take my money, cool I don't feel like giving it to you," with that, Tylor grabbed her food and went to leave the store. The clerk stopped talking, and stared at Tylor dumbfounded.

"You can't just leave," she retorted to Tylor's back. Tylor responded by shrugging and making her way to the door. "I'll call the police!" the clerk tried to yell back.

"Go ahead bitch," Tylor snapped. To her dismay, her father's cruiser was already outside parked beside the boys in the (muscle car). She cursed under her breath, knowing she was making a scene. She kicked the door open and went for her truck and with the commotion the boys took their attention off the officer to her. The clerk went running out after her and saw the cruiser.

"She's trying to steal from me!" The clerk yelled to the officer while pointing at Tylor.

"See, now I thought you were too busy talking about suckin' dick than to take my money," Tylor barked back throwing the food in through her open window. She heard the muffled laughter coming from Don and his passenger and it only encouraged her to say more. The clerk just glared at her, not able to come up with a good enough come back. "Chokin' on it too eh?" She heard a car door slam.

"Tylor! What the hell are you doing," She spun her head towards her father who was now walking towards her, visibly angry.

"Nothing father," she smiled at him, she tossed her bills at the clerk and they fell to the ground. The girl just stood there with her arms crossed. "What's the matter? I thought you'd be used to bending over," she said sarcastically sympathetic. The clerk had had enough and reached her arms out pushing on Tylor's chest. That was it, Tylor was done, done with the drive, the stupid town and everything else. She lost it. She got in the girl's face, her forehead almost smashing into the clerks.

"Push me again. Do it," she almost whispered. Tylor was overreacting and she knew it but couldn't stop. She felt a firm hand push her shoulder back but she swatted it out of the way. "I said do it bitch!" she yelled this time.

"That's enough!" her father's loud voice snapped her out of her red haze. She looked to her left and Don had gotten out of the car to try and stop the oncoming fight. Her father was now standing in front of the clerk, and that only helped to piss her off more but she shoved her anger down and took a deep breath.

"Whatever, I'm leaving," she muttered and swung her car door open to climb inside.

"Hey now just wait a minute-" her father was about to say but Tylor cut him off.

"What I paid didn't I? Just arrest me when you get home dad." She spat out and put the key in the ignition. All other voices were drowned out by the loud music blaring through the speakers of her pick up truck. She sped out of the parking lot, causing Howard to bark out in agitation.

"I'm sorry about that Melissa, I'll deal with her when I get home," Tylor's father said while picking up the money his daughter had thrown at the clerk.

"Thanks Officer King," Melissa said too sweetly. Officer King nodded to her, then turned toward Don and his friend. "Boys,"

"Sir," they said in unison. With that Officer King got back in his cruiser and left the parking lot.

"What a psycho, there's clearly something wrong with her." Melissa said to Don.

"Hmm," Don grunted, not really listening to what she was saying.

"Whatever," she sighed, and walked back into the store.

Don sat back in the car and reached for the rest of his burrito.

"Do you think she's crazy?" the driver of the(muscle car)asks.

"No," Don replies and takes a swig from his carton of milk. "Do you Chavez?"

"No… Do you know her?" Chavez asks again.

"No," Don takes a bite of his burrito, eyeing the parking spot where Tylor's car was.

"Do you think she's hot?" Chavez begins to back out of the lot.

Don continues chewing, "Yeah," he says with a mouth full of food.


End file.
